Pension fund CPF Financial Services is set to make an equity investment in the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as it seeks to diversify its investments from traditional asset classes.

CPF managing director Hosea Kili made the revelation on Monday even as he remained tight-lipped on the value of its proposed investment in the pan-African lender.

“We will discuss the details of the investment including the value of the equity with our fund managers in due course. This is part of our plan to diversify our investments,” said Mr Kili.

On Monday, CPF and AFC signed an agreement during the ongoing Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi to jointly target infrastructure investments within Kenya.

AFC, headquartered in Lagos State, Nigeria, was set up in 2007 targeting big-money infrastructure developments on the continent across various sectors including energy, transport and logistics, telecommunications and manufacturing.

It has 37 shareholders, a majority (53.7 percent) of who are African financial institutions and other investors while 46.3 percent are member countries and multilateral institutions.

African institutional investors, including pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers, hold nearly $1trillion dollars of assets under management, equivalent to a third of the continent’s combined gross domestic product.

“African institutional investors are one of the single largest sources of investable capital and will play a catalytic role in bridging Africa’s infrastructure gap,” said AFC President and CEO Samaila Zubairu.

“It is with this immense potential in mind that we are partnering with CPF Financial Services. Our combined expertise and access to capital will accelerate progress towards achieving economic prosperity and job creation for Kenya and, ultimately, the African continent,” he said

AFC is a major investor in Kenya and has pumped in more than $400 million (Sh58.32 billion) in various projects to date.

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